Manager in the Middle

By Linda Wendt

The pandemic has had an enormous impact on employees and their managers. From the immediate challenge of pivoting to remote work, to supporting their people struggling with mental health issues, managers have been saddled with tremendous responsibilities during this period. Now, amid the Great Resignation, research indicates that the manager relationship is the top or near the top reason for employee departures. Managers can’t win!

Those who lead people are tasked with so many things: finding and keeping talent, meeting quality and production standards, and ensuring the delivery of excellent customer service. Each one of these areas is an assignment on its own. Hiring has never been more challenging: there is a shortage of workers, and those available have leverage to ask for flexibility that a manager must accommodate. Then, when an employee is hired, the manager must provide an onboarding experience that bonds the new employee to the organization or risk losing them, and quickly. Once the new employee is settled in and learning his or her role, the manager must be sensitive to any emotional or mental health issues that employees are routinely bringing to their jobs; a manager who is uncaring will lose their people and go back into the hiring lottery.

With sales booming, production quotas are higher than ever, but supply-chain snafus can create overwhelming obstacles that must be negotiated. While juggling demands for flexibility and being responsive to workers’ needs, the manager must also urge, encourage, lead and motivate their teams to meet production numbers established by senior leaders who don’t always want to accept the realities and needs of post-pandemic employees. “We have to take advantage of this great market!” and “We must meet demand or customers will go elsewhere!” are statements that add to the pressure faced by today’s managers.

If our managers can handle all these demands, they must also plan for their employees’ growth and development, as lack of opportunity is also a leading cause of turnover during the Great Resignation/Reshuffling. If your company has ample training, and career-pathing support, a manager can point their employees in the right direction and encourage them to do what suits their needs. But what if your company doesn’t have those resources? The expectation of the employee remains the same, and they go to their manager for guidance. More pressure. HR can help with ideas and support. 

Unsurprisingly, managers are also quitting during these turbulent times. Given the demands, it may seem more surprising that so many stay in their roles. But companies can support these critical links in their people resources if senior leaders acknowledge the strains in the middle and take steps to reinforce these most important of roles. HR should take a leading role in these efforts.  

First, a realistic review of targets and goals: just because we are doing it, does it mean we should? Most of us do some work each day that isn’t critical or wouldn’t be missed if left undone. Providing attainable goals helps to lower frustration levels. Secondly, acknowledging the importance of those in managerial positions, and showing genuine appreciation for them goes a long way. No one likes their efforts to go unnoticed. Showing gratitude for the efforts of your critical team members helps to keep them coming back. And understand that they are also subject to the emotional pressures that all employees face, ratcheted up by their responsibilities to the teams they lead. 

Ensuring that managers take time for themselves, and that they have a safe place to express and expel frustration and pressure helps to keep stress levels under control. HR can encourage managers to take advantage of EAPs or mental health resources and show that they are cared for and are deserving of the same support they are expected to provide to their teams. Periodic check-ins are also a good way for HR to ensure that managers are aware of what resources are available, and to take the pulse of the teams’ health.  

By acknowledging the additional pressures that managers face and actively providing support, HR can bolster those in the middle and improve business outcomes.